3 killed in I-65 backup from chemical tanker crash

Photo from the Indiana State Police shows the Toyota Sequoia that drove into the back of the semi trailer.

ROSELAWN, Ind. (AP) — A man and two of his children died when their vehicle rear-ended a semitrailer early Tuesday in backed-up traffic on Interstate 65 in rural northwestern Indiana, authorities said.

The three died when the family’s vehicle slammed into the semitrailer near Roselawn, some 30 miles south of Gary, state police Cpl. Dan Becker said.

A few miles south, a tanker carrying nitric acid had rolled over, clogging traffic on the interstate. Becker said hazardous materials crews were working to clean up a chemical leak from the tanker, but that no injuries or evacuations had been reported in the area.

“It’s all farmland, so it is just the interstate that’s closed,” he said.

A third child injured in the crash was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in suburban Chicago, Jasper County Coroner Andrew Boersma said. He said he didn’t know the severity of that child’s injuries.

Boersma said the father and two children who died were from Jasper County, but he didn’t immediately release their names. He said no one else was in the vehicles.

Information about the circumstances of the crashes or how much nitric acid leaked from the tanker wasn’t immediately available.

Police closed all northbound and southbound lanes of I-65 for a 20-mile stretch between the Indiana 2 and Indiana 14 interchanges. Becker said he didn’t know how long that closure would last.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health says nitric acid is corrosive and its vapor or mist form can irritate the eyes, nose, throat and skin.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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